Mechanical movement



Jan. 1, 1935. 'r. o. LILES MECHANICAL MOVEMENT Filed May 5, 1953 5Sheets-Sheeii 1 I gwugznto o 770ma-s air #65,

Jan. 1, 1935. T, o. LILES 1,985,901

ME cccccccccccccc NT Jan. 1, 1935. O Es 1,985,901

MECHAN ICAL MOVEMENT Filed May 5, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 \k 2.5 REC I'PR0 CAT ION OF SLEEVE, 1O

I I z I z l l zqv gm wanton Tho/72x25 OLfleg ROTATION or SHAFT 11Patented Jan. 1, 1935 of Texas 17 Claims.

This invention relates to; mechani o mentsand more particularly to amechanism for converting or changing movement of one kind into movementof; another. In its-more intense aspect it is directedto theinter-conversion of rotary and linear or reciprocatory motions.

In order that a clearer perception of the present invention may be had,it is known that various means havebeen devised from time to time forconverting rotary motion into linear motion, or vice versa, dependingupon the relative location of the driving and driven elements in themechanism, The'present invention isdirected more especially to that-typeof mechanism in which the relative rotative movement of one part, forexample, produce a multiple of that movement in a reciprocatory mannerof the other member. e Y 7 1 Accordingly, one of the objects of thepresent invention; is to provide a simple and practical mechanicalmovement of the above generalchar acter, having relatively few partswhich may be.

inexpensively manufactured and assembled. V

' A further object is to providea mechanism of the above character inwhich the motive means may be applied to either of the two main partsfor producing a driven movement of the other. A further, object is toprovide mechanism of the last above-mentioned character, in which theparts are so -positioned and-arranged as to produce an even torque onone part when acted upon by theother'. v r

A'further object is to provide areliable and eflicient mechanism whichwill be durable in construction; and substantially frictionless inoperation.; P v Other objects will be in part obvious fromIthe annexeddrawings and in part hereinafter indicated in conr'iection therewith bythe following analysis of this invention. r v 'Thisinvention accordinglyconsists in the features. of construction, combination .of parts and inthe unique relation of themembers and in the relative proportioning anddisposition thereof, all 7 as more completely outlined herein. I Toenable others skilled in the art to compre hend fullyjthe underlyingfeatures of this in vention that they may embody the same by thenumerous modifications in structure and relation contemplated by theinvention, drawings depicting a preferred form of the invention havebeen annexedias part of this disclosure, and in such drawings likecharacters of reference denote'corA responding parts throughout all ofthe views, in, -which. r

Thomas 0. Liles, Dallas, T assiiznor' 't'o' Lile motor Corporatiofh,Dallas,'"Tex., arcorp'oration Fig.,1 is a; sectional elevational viewillustrate ing one form or embodiment of the device; y V i "Fig. 2 is atransverse sectional viewtaken substantially; onthe line-22 ;of Fig. 1;z

Fig. '3 is a ,perspective'view of the two main elements, partly insection or-partly broken away; Fig. 4 .is-adevelopment of one of,thejcyline drical members showing the relative :shape-and location of;thegrooves, four in number; Fig. 51 is a diagrammatie'or. schematic viewshowing successive positions on-the center lines of two cooperatingcamgrooves, one-on the inner or rotating member and the other on theouter or reciprocating member and their relative positions after havingtraversed through j successive quadrants or periods'of'motion; c i v tFig. e illustrates a modification of the mechanismshown in Fig. '1 i Itis unnecessary to go in to'; the numerous applications and. uses of amechanicalmovement of this character; in fact,. it;can beused in almostany mechanism or machine where movement of one kind is adapted to ,beconverted into movement of another kindwherein these movements. are ofrotary and reciprocatory character. In Fig. 1 wherein is illustrated inits simplest form one embodiment ,of; thesinvention, let, it be assumedthat lo -indicates an, outer cylin drical sleeve conveniently securedagainstrotation,;-which, for convenienc e, will betermed-the drivingmember, while 11 indicates a shaftcen trally andtelescopicallydisposedwithrespect to,

the sleeve 10 and having keyed thereto,-as at'12,-; I

a fly wheel 13 or the likefrom whichrpoweris' delivered. Associated withthe sleeve 10 aregtwo rods 114' which are ,connected to any suitablesource of powen such as a gas or-steam; engine cylinder, for producing jreciprocation g of :thef

sleeve; and this sleeve-is adapted-3 through" cam mechanism hereinafterdescribed,, to--cause a rotary movement of the shaft lland'the'drivenfly wheel 13. 'Conversely,: the fly wheel 13 may be driven fromanysuitable source of power,such as a motor, thereby to produce areciprocatory movement ofthe parts14. j For convenience of assembly, thesleeve 10 may be formed of two ormorepartsipermitting of readyassemblyabout the shaft'll and over.

balls 20,-;hereinafter referred to; :Thisa sleeve reciprocatesupon theshaft llwand is'provided with an outer member 15: adapted 'to be slippedendwise over the sleeve tolabut a collar 16 atone endand to be held inlocked. position bysmea'ris of 'annulus 17. Theinternalidiameter of the"sleeve 10 is preferably slightly larger than the pleting "the cycle.

external diameter of the shaft 11, although the parts may be ofsubstantially the same diameter,

ly centered, and the balls or rollers when so positioned provide an evenand uniform transmission of power from one to the other,freefromtortional strains. The spacing. member or ball retainer 18 may becylindrical inshape as'shown more clearly in Fig. 2.

There is indicated at 21 a supporting frame of any desired character,depending upon the use to which the mechanical movement is put, and theshaft 11 is provided with bearings 22 and rollers 23 thereby toeliminate'friction as much as possible. v s ,1

The internal surface ofthe sleeve mnemvided with a series of cam grooves24 substantially hemispherical in cross se'ction, and in which balls orrollers are adapted to have'relative'movement. These grooves extendentirely around the'inner-surf-ace ofthe sleeve, thereby to have awave-like motion as 'more clearly shown in Fig 4, illustrating adevelopment of these'grooves. The external su-rface'of the shaft 11 isalso provided with "complementary or co acting grooves 25 which aresimilar in size and shape except for such changes as may be necessarydue to differences in the internal and external diameters of the sleeveand shaftrespectively, but these gro'oves are operatively oppositelypositioned as clearly appears in either Fig. 1 or Fig. 8', or Fig; 5.

As shown in 'Fig. 5, illustrating the relative position of a single waveof each of these grooves 24 and 25 as the shaft rotates with respect tothe reciprocatorymovement of the sleeve 10, for example, we findthat-the rollers or balls drift laterally back and forth as one partreclprocates to cause rotation of the other, or the grooves in the twomain members cooperate with the interposed roller resulting in aprogressive reciprocatory movement of the sleeve as the shaft rotatestwice the relative movement of the rollers, or vice versa, When therollers reach thecrest of the cam grooves, then an opposite movement ofthe reciprocating member occurs causing continued rotative movement ofthe shaft, thus com- Referring'now particularly to'Figure in whichgroove 2430f the reciprocating element is represented by'the line ofdashes and its position at one end of reciprocative movement asillustrated in the figure as 24a, it will travel in the direction of thedouble pointed arrow to a position indicated-as 24b, 24c and 24d in onedirection, then in reversea like distance. In Figure 5 it will be notedthat the movement laterally of sleeve 10 is equal to twice the distancebetween a line drawn through the apices or points of the grooves. Thefull line represents the groove '25 of the shaftill, it being noted thatfor purposes'of a simple and clear description'of the relative actionbetween the partsa single groove each is shown. It will be further notedthat along the groove 24 from 2442 to 241 is one-half of a single groove24. Likewise the distance from 25a to 25b is onehalf of groove'25, thetwo points '25a and 25b being-on opposite sides of shaft-11.

. Starting with ball 20 .at 24e of groove 24, as that groove movestoward position 241) the ball will travel along groove 24 in thedirection indicated by the arrow pointing along groove 24 from point 246and will travel along groove 25 from point 246 in the direction of thearrow along that groove from point 24c, but will drift in the directionof rotation of shaft 11, also in the direction of movement ofsleeve.'10,.so that when sleeve 10 has brought groove 24 to the positionindicated at 241), shaft 11 will have been caused to rotate and groove25 will occupy the position indicated as 250 by the XXX line, and ball20 will then-occupy position 20a. As sleeve 10 qbri-ngs groove. 24-tothe position indicated at 24c,

shaft 11 willlhave been caused to rotate in the direction of the arrow25 and groove 25 will oc- 24d, ball 20 will-then occupy the position20c,

shaft 11 having been rotated one-half revolution, the point 25a nowoccupying the position shown as 251), Fig. 5, while'ball 20 has movedabout the shaft 11 a distance equal to one-quarter of its circumferenceand has moved laterally of sleeve 10 a distance of one-half of thedistance of the travel of sleeve 10. V On the return stroke of thesleeve 10, the shaft continuing to rotate in its same direction, the-bal'1 '20 from point 200 will take the direction along groove 25indicated by the arrow along the groove '25 at 20c and along groove 24as indicated by the arrow along groove 24 at point 200. When groove 24has returned to the position indicated at 24c, groove 25 again has movedinto a position opposite thereto and ball 20 has'moved into the position2011, and moveson to position 20c at the end of the stroke returningsleeve 10 to its original p'osition, while shaft 11 has been caused torotate another one-half revolution and points 25a and 25b occupy theiroriginal respective positions.

It will be noted that while sleeve 10 has completed two strokes orcycles and returned to its original'position, shaft l1 has been causedto rotate one complete revolution and'ball'2 0has moved to a point withrelation to shaft 11 ex a-ctly opposite from its starting point.' i

With two balls 20 in grooves 24 and 25, one each at 24c and 24 theiractions'woui'd coincide throughout and the ballat'point 24c would arriveat 24 and the ball 20 originally at 24 would arrive at 24c on onecomplete revolution of shaft 11. I

It of course is readily understood that any number of grooves 24 and 25may be employed as desired and that the action of balls 20 would be thesame in each groove. Also that the number of'points in the grooves maybe varied to effect any rotation of the shaft desired relativetothereciprocating action of the sleeve.

While I have "described in detail the*action of tially 0 theharmonic'motion type having uni formly accelerated, and retarded endmotions in order to prevent shocks whenathe direction of .motionfof onemember,-that is, thereciprocating sleeve, for example, changes, in orderto obtain a gradual change of velocity of the sleeves atxthe ends of"the period of movement and to give auniformrotative movement of theshaft when and if the shaft is the driven member. Conversely, if theshaft is the'driven member, thiswould probably be operated at a uniformrate of speed as by amotor, for example, in which case the sleeve maybe. reciprocated withoutpounding at'tthe ends of its stroke.Modification of the grooves, however, and thekresulting movement may beemployed to'cause a pounding if actually I a, 7 i

noted/that therollerfmeans or balls 20am of the freely floa'ting type asdistinguished frommechamsmstiof this broad general character where-therollers occupies a relatively fixed position with respect to one of themembers. This reciprocative' movement, which'is more apparent in Fig.

' 5, isiequal'to twice the movement heretofore pro- 'duced wherethe-roller occupied a fixed position. This ratio obviously may bemodified by a modification of the cams, as for example, to produce twicethe number of reciprocations relative to the number of rotations of theother main member by simply increasing the number of waves.

In Fig. 6 there is illustrated diagrammatically a modification in whichthe sleeve member is provided with a fly wheel or gear-31 thereby toproduce a rotation of the sleeve and a consequent reciprocation of theinternal member or part 32, heretofore called the shaft. This elementmaybe connected as by'means of a piston rod 33, provided with a piston34 traversing in any form of cylinder 35. Likewise, if motive means isapplied to the piston 34 to cause a reciprocation of the part 32, then'31 becomes-the driven member'and delivers rotation.

' From the above it will be seen, with particular reference to Fig; 5showing developed but one wave in each member, that in operation, as onemember rotates, the ball or roller 20 is carried relatively up one camincline and relatively down the other cam incline, thereby driftinggradually towards one side and then the other,

which'causes a progressive lateral and multiple movement of the othermember as the first mem--' ber rotates. U From the foregoing it will beseenthat the present invention contemplates 'a simple and practicalmechanical movement. well adapted to accomplish among others all of theobjects and advantages herein set forth. The device is strongand-durable in construction and has relatively few parts which may beeasily manufactured and quickly assembled. The device is equallyapplicable to a rotary driving or driven member, or to a reciprocatingdriving or driven member. In either case the relative movement of onemember is a multiple of the relative movement of the other, asdistinguished from prior devices of this general character.

Without further analysis the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist ofthis invention that others can by applying current knowledge readilyadapt it for various applications without omitting certain featuresthat, from the standpoint of the prior art, fairly constitute essentialcharacteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention,and therefore such adaptations should and are intended to becomprehended within the.

In=this mechanism, it is particularly ts/be meaningiand rangeofequivalency. of theifollovw. ing claims. p: 'I'I 'claimi i I. Amechanism driving and'adriven member, m of which may be a grooved sleevean'dthe other a grooved for converting movement .of, one kindintomovement of. another; including a shaft, and"-means. operativelyconnecting said parts including a floating roller in the grooves wherebyas one member rotatesthe. other r6 ciprocates. 1.. 25A mechanism forconverting movement- 0f one kind into movement of another, includingiadriving memberand adriven member, one- 0f which may be'a' groovedsleeve'and the other a grooved shaftgand means operatively connecting's'aidparts including a floating roller infthe grooves whereby as onemember rotates theoth'er reciprocat'es, said floating roller 'a'ndgrooves permitting a relative movement of one member e'quaL-to" amultiple the other}? W '3. A mechanismfor converting movement of onekind intomovem'ent of another, including a driving member'and; adriven"member,fo'ne of which may be a grooved sleeve and the omegagrooved shaft, and means operatively connect ing said parts including afloatingroller inthe grooves whereby as one member rotates the otherreciprocates, said grooves being of the harmonic motion type. p i 4-. Amchanism'for converting movementof of a a developed movement of one kindinto movement-of another, includinga driving member and a drivenmemberf-oneo'f which may be agrooved sleeve and the other a one kindinto movement of another, including a driving member an'd a driven'membery one 'o f which may be a grooved sleeve and the other a groovedshaft, and means operatively connecting said parts including a floatingroller in the grooves whereby as one member rotates the other Ireciprocates, said floatingroller-and groovesfpermitting a relativemovement ofone member equal to a multiple of a developed'movement ofjtheother, said grooves being of the harmonic'motion type. j V

6. A mechanism for converting movement of one kind into movement ofanother, including a driving member and a driven member, one: of whichmay be a grooved sleeve and the other a grooved shaft, and meansoperatively connecting said parts including a floating roller in thegrooves whereby as one member rotates the other reciprocates, saidfloating rollerand grooves permitting a relative movement of one memberequal to a multiple of a devolped movement of the other,

said grooves being of the harmonic motion type with portions givinguniformly accelerated and retarded changes in velocity of the memberhaving a change in its direction of motion.

7. Apparatus for the inter-conversion of rotary and linear motionconsisting of a pair of telescoping main members having their adjacentsurfaces of cylindrical shape provided with coacting grooves, a floatingrotarymember engaging with the grooves whereby upon linear movement ofone of the main members the other will be caused to rotate. V

8. Apparatus for the inter-conversion of rotary and linear motionconsisting of a pair of telescoping main members having their adjacentsurfaces of cylindrical shape provided with coacting grooves partiallyin registry, floating rtary members equidistantly spaced of the mainmembers engaging with the grooves whereby upon linear movement of one ofthe main members the other will be caused to rotate, and means securingthe, floating rotary members longitudinally of the main members.

. 9. A mechanism for converting movementof one kind into movement ofanother, including a driving member and a driven member. one of whichmaybe a grooved sleeve and the other a grooved shaft, and meansoperatively-connect ing said parts including a floating roller in thegrooves whereby as one member rotates the other reciprocates, thegroovesin each of the driving and driven members being plural in numberand having a plurality of rollers in each groove.

10. A mechanism for converting movement of one kind; into movement ofanother, including a driving member and a driven member, one of whichmay be a grooved sleeve and, the other a grooved shaft, and meansoperatively connecting said parts including, a floating roller in thegrooves whereby as one member rotates the other reciprocates, each ofthe driving and driven members having a plurality of grooves and aplurality ofrollers in each groove, and a spacer interposed between thedriving and driven members for holding the rollers in relative position.

1 1. A mechanism forconverting movement of one kind into movement ofanother, including a driving member and a driven member, one of whichmay be a grooved sleeve and the other a grooved shaft, and meansoperatively connecting said parts including a floating roller in thegrooves whereby as one member rotates the other reciprocates, saidfloating roller and grooves permitting a relative movement of onememberequal to a multiple of a developed movement of the other, each of thedriving and driven members having a plurality of grooves and a pluralityof rollers in each groove.

12. A mechanism for converting movement of one kind into movement ofanother, including a driving member and a driven member, one of whichmaybe a grooved sleeve and the other a grooved shaft, and meansoperatively connecting said parts including a floating roller in thegrooves whereby as one member rotates the other reciprocates,saidfloating roller and grooves permitting a relative movement of onemember equal to a multiple of a developed movement'of the other,

each of the driving and driven members having a plurality of grooves anda plurality of rollers in each groove, and a spacer interposed betweenthe d'rivingand driven members for holding the rollers in relativeposition.

13. Apparatus for the inter-conversion of rotary and linear motionconsistingof a pair of telescoping main members having their adjacentsurfaces of cylindrical contourprovided with coasting grooves, afloating rotary member engaging'with the grooves whereby upon linearmovement of one'of the main members the other will be caused to rotate,each of the driving and driven members having a plurality of grooves anda plurality of rollers in each groove.

14. Apparatus for the inter-conversion 0! r0- tary and lineanmotionconsisting of a pair of telescoping main members having their adjacentsurfaces of cylindrical shape provided with coacting grooves,.a floatingrotary member engaging with the grooves whereby upon linear movement ofone of the main members the other will be caused to rotate, each of thedriving and driven members having a plurality of grooves and a pluralityof rollers in each groove, and a spacer interposed between the drivingand driven members for holding the rollers in relative position.

15. A mechanism for converting movement of one kind into movement ofanother, including a driving member and a driven member, one of whichmaybe a grooved sleeve and the other a grooved shaft, and meansoperatively connecting said parts including a floating roller in thegrooves whereby as one member rotates the other reciprocates, each ofthe driving and driven members having a plurality of grooves and aplurality of rollers in each groove, and a spacer interposed between thedriving and driven members for holding the rollers in relative positionboth longitudinally and circumferentially.

16. A mechanism for converting movement of one kind into movement ofanother, including a driving and a driven member, one of which may beagrooved sleeve and the other a grooved shaft, and means operativelyconnecting said parts including a plurality of balls heldcircumferentially and longitudinally spaced in the grooves whereby asone member rotates the other reciprocates.

17. In a mechanism of the character described, in combination, a rotarymember, a reciprocating member, both of which are provided with groovesand a floating roller connecting said members and traveling in saidgrooves whereby the rotary movement of one is converted into thereciprocating movement of the other.

THOMAS O. LILES.

